5 climbers fall to death on glacier in Austrian Alps

Five climbers fell to their deaths in the Austrian Alps on Sunday and a sixth is in intensive care, according to an official and a doctor.

The climbers fell about 300 meters (1,000 feet) onto a glacier near Krimml in the Alps, according to Dr. Egbert Ritter, a trauma surgeon at the AUVA hospital in Salzburg. He said that six helicopters were at the scene.

The lone survivor, who is being treated at the hospital, is a 60-year-old man and he is in intensive care, Ritter told CNN. Doctors do not believe his injuries are life threatening.

Zell am See provincial government chief Martin Reichholf confirmed the deaths and said there were indications that the climbers were German citizens, adding that details were still emerging.

The climbers fell at around 10 a.m. (4 a.m. ET) about 1.5 kilometers south of a mountain cabin called the Zittauer Hutte at an altitude of around 3,000 meters, Reichholf said.